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Enhancing language & culture learning through P2P.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

A variety of digital realia available on Peer-to-Peer networks (P2P), such as Emule, KaZaa and Bittorrent, can enhance the learning process for students of foreign language and culture, and the quality of the instructor's teaching. The article essentially aims to be a practicum on what types of digital realia prove more effective, and explores legal issues linked to P2P, educational institutions and Fair Use.

Introduction

The advantages of realia as a whole have already been extensively explored under the theoretical standpoint (for example Dlaska, 2003 and Spurr, 1942). While such advantages include development of specific personal interests in exploring, and therefore acquiring, the foreign (or second) language and culture in a context, the ultimate goal is to turn the student in a life-long learner of the target language and culture. This paper explores the category of digital realia in a variety of media in the target language originated from the target culture and available on the Web. Rather than aiming at being another theoretical contribution in the field of pedagogy, this paper aims instead at representing a practicum. I intend to review what types of digital realia, in my experience, produce the best results; how the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) revolution, which began in 1999 with the creation of Napster, [1] has made this didactic tool accessible and easy to use; and how to incorporate digital realia, available on the Internet, in our teaching. Finally, I will examine legal issues linked to P2P use. [2]

My own experiences as a foreign language student have always played an essential role in guiding my pedagogical approach to the teaching of foreign language and culture. To this day, I am more likely to remember vocabulary, idioms and irregular verbs from some song, comic-book, magazine or TV show, rather than from my textbooks or the dedicated efforts of my language teachers. I am not denying the clear value of foreign language teaching, language classes provided me with very useful, necessary structures, but I feel it was the time I spent with my pop-culture realia that helped me improve my languages. These media taught me structures, as well as idioms and slang that I would not have been able to access in the classroom (Bregni, 2004).

In my teaching experience, using video, audio and other realia both in and outside the classroom has also proven to be the best didactic tool to reinforce linguistic skills and expose students to contemporary foreign culture. This has contributed substantially to the enhancement of the quality of my teaching. [3] I believe that the advent of the P2P revolution (which began around 1999 with Napster and also with the introduction of new compression formats for digital media such as...

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